Trading Summary – TSX (January 22, 2004)

The gold and technology stocks dragged the S&P/TSX Composite Index 32.77 points lower to 8,589.11 on Thursday. The gold index fell 6.02 points, or nearly 3%, to 205.44, while the information technology index shed 3.6%. The diversified miners didn’t fare much better sliding 2.4 points to 226.44.

Tahera trailed only unchanged McWatters Mining volume-wise as profit takers sent just shy of 9 million shares 3 lower to 36.5. McWatters saw nearly 15 million shares traded.

Better performances were put in by South American Gold & Copper, which jumped 2, or about 12%, to 19 on 6.7 million shares, Pure Gold Minerals up 1.5, or 12.5%, to 13.5 on 1.7 million shares, and Jonpol Explorations, which tacked on a dime, or more than 15%, to make 75.

Standing out among the mostly lower golds was Miramar Mining gaining a nickel to $3.14. On Thursday, Miramar reported a 25% increase in the mineral resources at its Hope Bay project in Nunavut. The increase came solely at the Madrid area, where measured and indicated resources increased by 55% to 565,000 oz. of gold and inferred resource grew by 87% to nearly 1.9 million oz.

Also making news was Kinross Gold which agreed to acquire 4 million shares in junior Anatolia Minerals Development at US$1.35 apiece on a private placement basis. The deal is expected to close on Jan. 27, subject to regulatory approval. In the end Kinross will own about 10.2% of Anatolia’s outstanding shares. Anatolia plans to use the US$5.4 million in proceeds to fast-track development of its Copler gold project in Turkey, as well as to redeem US$2 million in preferred shares granted to the property’s original license owner. The pair will also look at forming a strategic alliance at Copler property and its other non-Rio Tinto properties. Kinross’ shares fell 20 to $9.37, while Anatolia’s units climbed 4, or 3%, to $1.41.

Alcan was the news maker among the base metal crowd announcing that it would shut down its 60-year-old Jonquire Soderberg primary aluminum facility in Saguenay, Quebec, this spring. Alcan says the high-cost facility is its most polluting and least energy efficient. Alcan said the rising Canadian dollar was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The move comes ten years before originally planned and will see 550 jobs lost. The shutdown will affect 90,000 tonnes of production capacity, about 3% of Alcan’s global capacity. The company’s issue slipped 3 pennies to $59.86.